Snack #16: The President & Idiots
"We are all born ignorant, but one must work extremely hard to remain stupid". This quote washed through the internet with a picture of Benjamin franklin. Funny enough, there's no evidence of him ever saying that, but I'm sure I can find some who have taken this as fact and will work hard to retain their misinformation on this subject. What a paradox - well done, Benjamin.
Another quote by Mark Twain says: "Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience."
But how do you know if they are idiots? Are they just trying to learn, or are they willingly remaining stupid, causing havoc?
Showing empathy to people who are sure they are in the right, with no chance of error - is a challenge.
I mean, I'm ignorant in many things - the things I don't know outweigh the things I do, and even with the things I know, I am aware some people know them better. I accept ignorance any day of the week, but when the mindset/framework of the person in front of me is of "I must prove that I'm right, there's no other option" - it becomes difficult.
I don't have a solution for it. Once I realize that's where they come from, I disengage, I either just agree with them or walk away. It's interesting that being a teacher supposedly surrounds you with (technically) ignorant people, but I see it as surrounding myself with people who try to learn. People who don't try to learn, don't stay in my circle, and I wish them a happy life, truly.
A lesson from a thing:
In a book called "Thinking fast, and slow", two systems are described - System 1, which is the more impulsive, emotional, primal system, and System 2, which is the logical, thoughtful side of the brain.
When using system 1, it seems that we are in "Cognitive Ease" - we make decisions on the fly, and end up with results entirely different from ones that we make under "Cognitive Strain". Certain decisions in life are best made under cognitive strain, but I think that in dance we mustn't use any brain strain.
I see dance as a way of primal communication, where the purity of emotions is finally apparent, unlike so many other areas of our lives. If dancing (social dancing) is a release, we shouldn't spend time thinking and analyzing every little bit of it, or any part of it, at all! We do enough of that when we take classes or practices. I'd like to use my system 1 brain to dance, as much as possible.